Prized Japanese free agent Roki Sasaki might visit one or two teams before deciding which club he wants to sign with, his agent said on Monday.
Twenty MLB clubs submitted information to the 23-year-old right-hander, who listened this month to presentations along with his team of supporters at the Los Angeles office of Wasserman Media Group, his agent, Joel Wolfe, said.
Sasaki returned to Japan and is considering along with family and advisers how he wants to proceed ahead of his signing window, which runs from Jan. 15 to 23.
Photo: AP
Sasaki is likely to narrow the field, but might meet with one or two more clubs and could visit one or two cities, Wolfe said.
“He is definitely driving the ship and calling the shots. Roki is a very driven and intelligent and particular person,” Wolfe said during a 20-minute Zoom session with reporters.
“He’s not coming here just to be rich or to get a huge contract. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest ever,” he added.
Sasaki has reportedly met with the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.
Wolfe said he assumed Sasaki would “seriously consider” the San Diego Padres.
He did not specify which teams Sasaki met with, but said clubs were not prohibited from publicly discussing their meetings.
Wolfe said each meeting had a two-hour limit and the sessions were attended by general managers, assistant general managers, managers, pitching coaches and members of biomechanics, performance and training staffs. Teams were told not to bring players.
“He didn’t seem overly concerned about whether a team had Japanese players on their team or not, which in the past as I’ve represented Japanese players that was sometimes an issue,” Wolfe said.
Because Sasaki is younger than 25, he is limited to a minor league contract subject to this year’s international signing bonus pools. Team figures range from US$7,555,500 to US$5,146,200, although they can start trading allocation in US$250,000 increments starting from Jan. 15. They are limited to adding 60 percent of their initial amount available.
Shohei Ohtani went through a similar system when he signed with the Los Angeles Angels for a US$2,315,000 bonus ahead of the 2018 season.
Wolfe said Sasaki decided he wanted to leave the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League after playing alongside Ohtani, Yu Darvish and Shota Imanaga when Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and watching Imanaga dominate on the mound with the Chicago Cubs in the first half of last season.
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